A bit of the Olympic Games for Comenius

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Gender discrimination

Gender discrimination has always existed in sports, even during the Olympic Games. Anyway, it’s something which is changing. Before 1900 women had never been allowed to participate in the Olympic Games, and, since then, the number of female competitor has been greatly increasing each time the Olympic Games are celebrated. In fact, nowadays there are just three countries which don’t send any women to the Olympics. These are Brunei (which has only participated three times, sending one male each one, so it’s not a big deal), Qatar (which will send some female athletes to London 2012) and Saudi Arabia (where women are forbidden to go by laws). Taking into account this things, the IOC has decided that none country will be allowed to participate if their female athletes are not allowed to. The IOC has taken this decision in order to manage properly the situation in Saudi Arabia. At the same time, women’s boxing has been add to the Summer Olympic Games to get equality regarding to the sports in which both male and female can participate.

It is important to talk about Charlotte Copper as she was the first woman who won in the Olympic Games. She was a tennis player from England who won five Wimbledon championships besides of the Olympics tournament.

What happened in Beijin 2008?

The International Olympic Comittee advertised three more cases of doping in Olympic Games in Beijin (2008).Two hammer throwers who won medals (from Belarus) and a canoeist (from Polonia) did not pass their doping controls during the Olympic Games in Beijin.The International Olympic Committee gave them an opportunity for give more information about doping themselves.The decision will be done when their information have been analyzed.More than 4,700 doping tests were carried out during the Olympic Games in Beijing.

Usain Bolt, winner of Olympic Games, won his friend Asafa Powell in 100 meters in Oslo. Usain Bolt did three hundredths more than he did in the last time (9.79).Usain Bolt beat Powell, who starred in a brilliant start, at the last meters after recover the time lost at the beginning of the competition.

Finding my ambition

This is the story of a boy called Steve who lived in Cameroun, Africa. He was a young white teen fan of athletics, the only one white in his course. He had a lot of friends and dreams too. He always wondered if he could ever reach a good position on a podium of an athletic competition but he had lots of good rivals. He really looked up to a student of his school who beat the National record of 100m but he had never talk to him yet as he was one year older than Steve.

The Olympic Games were being held that year. Tickets for the athletics stadium were already sold out three weeks after they had been on sale. Steve could not raise enough money in that time to buy a ticket for him and his friend Essien. Anyways, he went to see the torch relay next to his house. The girl who Steve and Essien saw running with the Olympic torch had walking problems but she achieved it thanks to the support of people encourage. People were so euphoric! That moment made Steve feel like he could do anything so he decided to train for the next athletics competition as his personal little challenge.

Steve run every day with his dog pet after drinking a disgusting juice made of eggs and banana which was said to be a good supply of proteins to him. However, he failed because his sneakers broke just 20m before the goal. He felt so bad for it… Then, Steve saw that guy he admired so much. He felt worse after Steve discovered that he was racist with white people. So bad he felt that, when he got home, he started breaking chairs and lamps until he realized that he was holding a sofa over his head. He decided to practice weightlifting. He only had some car wheels for training. He took the tires from those wheels and started training every morning again and he didn’t have to use his red shorts he hated so much.

20 years later, Steve got the golden medal in the Olympic Games and became a true champion whereas the racist black guy ended up in drugs and expelled for doping.

Interview made to Yurema Requena Juarez, long distance swimmer who participated in the Olympic Games of Beijing 2008.

When did you first keen on swimming? How long have you been practicing this sport?

I started swimming when I was 6 in my current club which I haven’t quit during my whole degree. I received my first medal when I was 7. I used to swim in the pool discipline until the summer of 2001, when I was 17. That year, my personal trainer, Ricardo Franch, came up with the idea of signing me up in the Spanish long distance championship and there started my second sport degree. I quickly joined the Spanish team of open water. I was the youngest in the team and I participated in my first world tournament getting the sixth position

What is long distance swimming about?

Long distance is a swimming discipline which is played in open water, in a river, sea or lake. Long distances are swam as official disciplines are 5Km, 10Km y 25Km but the only one Olympic discipline are the 10Km. You must swim against a chronometer, extreme freezing temperatures, waves and, above all, your mates from whom you’ll get lots of hits at the beginning. Each race is completely different.

How do you feel after obtaining the classification for the Olympic Games?

The Olympic Games are the top of sportsmen and sportswomen’s career. After so many years, being in the Olympic Games is like a dream for me.

Which is your best memory in your career as a swimmer?

There are a lot but if I had to choose, I would talk about this last season when I obtained the third position in the world championship and the Olympic passport.

How is a normal day in your life?

I get up at 6 o’clock in the morning in order to train in the local indoor pool from 7 to 9, then I’ve got the rest of the morning for studying, reading or watching the telly. I eat early to take a nap and then I eat a snack, I go to the gym from 6:30 to 7:30 and I swim again from 8 to 10. Finally I go back home to have dinner and get into bed.

Do you feel strong enough to reach the next Olympic Games?

I am not sure at the moment. I want to focus on the present. For age I could go, because I will have 28 years in 2012 and I could compete well, but there are 4 years forward and many training and it also depends on the sponsors who are still supporting me.

History of the Olympics throughout the years

The Ancient Olympic Games were a series of competitions and religious acts which were created when the Ancient Greece was still an empire in the year 776 BC. Their aim was challenging the periods of war. In fact, while the Olympic games were being realized, there was a time of peace and the wars stopped. The Olympics aim was also honor the Gods, specially Zeus.All this was an aid to get unity and the winners of the different competitions were treated as heroes all over the empire.The sports played during the first olympics were: discus, javelin, long jump, chariot races, pentathlon, wrestling and dance. But, in the year 393 AD, the emperor Theodosius I banned the pagan cults, and one of them was the Olympics. In the XIX century an idea came up: Reviving the Ancient Olympic games. The man who manage all this great project was a noble french, Pierre Frèdy,who,supported by many other powerful people,get the Olympics to be celebrated for the first time after the Greeks in 1986. And, to honor their creators, the Olympics were celebrated in Athens. This competition is a symbol of the unity, friendship and peace involving all the continents (that’s why the Olympics symbol is formed by five joined rings). Regarding to sports, nowadays there is a bigger quantity of them: athletics, badminton, basketball, handball, boxing, cycling, swimming, water polo, horse riding, football, gymnastic, hockey, judo, fight, kayaking, pentathlon, tennis, taekwondo, ping-pong, triathlon, volleyball, fencing, archery, weightlifting,sailing…